Wire rope



Sept- 24, 1963 R. w. sTEvENs 8,1o4,515

RRRRRR PE Filed Apri 1 9 1 9 62 /Nl/ENTOR. ROGER W. .S'TEVENS By M224/ Aforney United States Patent O 3,104,515 WmE ROPE Roger W. Stevens, Woodbury, Conn., assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a Corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 9, 1962, Ser. No. 186,158 1 Claim. (Cl. 57-146) This invention relates to a Wire rope 'and more particularly to a Wire rope for use in hoists such as p-assenger elevators 'and mine hoists which carry people. Regular Lay Wire ropes are most commonly used for this purpose, especially on elevators, even though Lang Lay ropes are more wear resistant and also more resistant to bending fatigue than Regular Lay ropes. It has -been suggested to make non-rotating or non-spinning rope by the use of alternate Lang Lay and Regular Lay strands, but this construction does not result in a rope having the characteristics of 1a Lang Lay rope. The yuse of Lang Lay ropes is undesirab'le for hoisting applications where fatigue is the major cause of Wire rope deteroration because wires may first break against or near the core while the wires on the outside of the rope are still intact. As a result such Lang Lay ropes Weaken Without 'any external indication thereof and may fail without warning. The construction of Regular Lay rope, 'on the other hand, is such that the wires on the surface of the rope break first so that When the rope begins to weaken there is an external indication thereof.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a Wire rope having most of the fatigue and wear resistance properties of a Lang Lay rope and at the same time is provided with 'an indication of approaching lfailure of the rope.

This and other objects Will be more apparent after referrinig to the following specification 'and attached drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal view of an 8 x 19 Scale type -Wire rope constructed according to my invention; and

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the rope of FIGURE 1.

Referring more .partieularly to the drawing, reference numeral 2 indicates 'a fiber core having eight outer strands 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and stran'ded around it. The strand 3 which is preferably made of traction steel wire is of Regular Lay. In other words |the lay of the wires in this strand is opposite to 'the lay of the strand in the rope. The other strands, 4 to 10 inclusive, are

3,10`4,515 Patented Sept. 24, 1963 'ice made of the same material 'an'd are of the same size as strand 3, but are of Lang Lay. In other Words the direction of lay of 'the wires in these strands is the same as the direction of lay of the strands in the rope.

My invention may also be utilized in the other types of wire rope commonly used for hoisting purposes. The core constructions may vary 'and thenumber and construction of the outer or main strands may vary. In' ad-ditio-n to eight strands, six strand ropes 'are widely used in passenger elevators. According to my invention all but one of the main strands must be of Lang Lay with th'at one strand .being of Regular Lay. I have found that the wires of the Regular Lay strand on the outside of the rope will be the first to break and will break prior to any of the wires of the Lang Lay strands, 'but the wires in the Regular Lay strand will not break as soon as the wires of a Regular Lay rope. The broken wires lin the single regular lay strand are easily discernable to the eye and also can usua-lly be `discovered by moving a cloth along the surface of the rope. Thus the rope of my invention has substantially all the -advantages of a Lang Lay rope while at the same time it can be readily determined When the rope should be removed from service. In a rope having all Lang Lay strands the operator must guess when the rope should be removed andto be on the safe side he generally removes it earlier than necessary. However, the possibility still remains that 'a rope, 'which 'outwardly appears to be in `good condition, will break and cause a serious faccident. Applica-nt`s rope, on the other hand, can remain in service for the maximum safe period of use without danger of failure.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modification's may be made without departing 'from the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

A Wire rope having most of the fatigue and Wear resistance properties 'of a Lang Lay rope comprising a core, 'and 'a plurality of main strands surroundng said core, only one of said main strands being of Regular Lay, said Regular Lay strand providing an in'dication of approaching failure of -the rope, the remai'nder of said main strands being of Lang Lay.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 171,634 Roebling V V Dec. 28, 1875 

